Gov. Snyder sits down one-on-one with TV5

TV5 sat down with Gov. Rick Snyder for a one-on-one interview Thursday to get his take on right-to-work legislation he signed Tuesday.

We also asked him about the new emergency financial manager bill that is on the legislative floor and how he feels he's doing as governor of the state halfway through his term.

"I'm not in this for credit, I'm in this to make Michigan a better place, and the good thing is we've got a lot of good things going on," said Snyder.

Snyder sat down for 10 minutes to talk about where he sees Michigan now and where his vision is. The governor took a lot of heat this week from opponents of right-to-work legislation. There were big protests outside of the Capitol from people who think this bill is a big step toward union-busting but he says that's hardly the case.

"This is time to move forward in terms of getting it resolved and getting answers. And this is about worker choice, this is pro-worker," said Snyder. "What it really does is create a situation where unions need to show their value proposition to workers. And when workers see that, they're going to be happy to contribute."

During our one-on-one, he points to the signs that Indiana is showing in their early stages of becoming a right-to-work state. In February, Indiana's legislators pushed similar legislation through. He says in less than a year, 30 companies have moved in, bringing thousands of jobs.

"Again, it's not just tied to the union, it's having the right environment for job creation which we are creating in Michigan," said Snyder.

He says in his two years, Michigan has created 140,000 jobs and right-to-work could help boost that number even further.

Another interest in our area is a new emergency manager bill that's on the legislative floor. Critics say this is a mirror image of Public Act 4, which voters just rejected on the November ballot. Those critics claim it can terminate union contracts at the emergency manager's will. But Snyder insists it gives cities, towns and school districts the flexibility they need to stay afloat.

"They get to choose if they want to go on a consent agreement, an emergency manager, a mediated settlement, or even bankruptcy is one of the possibilities there," said Snyder. "We're even talking about putting something in there where they can say the emergency manager can leave, I think that's responding very well to the comments because the major criticism is more local involvement."

As far as being recalled or having litigation toward his most recent signing of the right-to-work bill, he says that it's a possibility. He says he's been there before but he believes everything here was done right.